Sports briefs: July 5

Steve Nash's agent, Bill Duffy, said the two-time MVP point guard is going to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade deal with the Phoenix Suns.

The 38-year-old Nash, who spent the past eight seasons with the Suns, was a free agent but a sign-and-trade agreement was necessary for the Lakers to afford him. He agreed to a three-year, $27 million contract. In return, the Suns get four draft picks — first rounders in 2013 and 2015 and second rounders in 2013 and 2014.

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Duffy said the main reason for Nash choosing the Lakers was to remain close to his children, who live in Phoenix. There had been sign-and-trade talks with New York and a lucrative free agent offer from Toronto.

The deal will put Nash on the floor with the team he tried so hard to unseat as a Western Conference power, teaming him with Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and at least for now, Pau Gasol.

Nash has never made it to the NBA Finals. He was last in the Western Conference finals against the Lakers in 2010, when the Suns lost in six games and Los Angeles went on to win the NBA title.

Olympics

Donahue glad to represent WKU at Games

Former Western Kentucky swimmer Claire Donahue returned to Bowling Green this week to begin training for the London Olympics. Donahue qualified for the games June 26 in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing second in the Olympic Trials with a time of 57.57 in Omaha, Neb.

"There's ups and downs. Obviously the downs are still pretty high," she told the Daily News of Bowling Green on Wednesday. "The day after, I guess the full 24 hours, was like huge. A major high, then it came down a little bit, then it's had a lot of ups. More ups than I'm used to. It's been pretty exciting."

The 23-year-old will be making her first appearance in the Olympics, but only after some intense work over the next few weeks in Knoxville, France and England.

The goal is simple — come home with a medal.

"Right now, the time that I just got, puts me in sixth in the world," she said. "The difference between the third fastest time and the sixth fastest time is four-tenths of a second. Right now my goal is to stand on the podium. We still have about three more weeks of training left. I still have things that I can fix and focus on and tweak a little bit that might help me get to my goals.

"It's very exciting to think how far I've come," Donahue said. "Five years ago coming in as a freshman I never would've thought that I would've had this much of an impact, not just on the team, but the program and Western Kentucky as a whole. I love it here, so for me to be able to improve the program and kind of bring up Western's name, Western Kentucky's name, is huge for me and it's very exciting to be able to do that. It gives me a very big sense of pride."

Pistorius set to compete in 400 meters

Oscar Pistorius was selected to run in both the individual 400 meters and the 4x400 relay at the London Olympics, clearing the way for him to become the first amputee track athlete to compete at any games.

In a surprise last-minute decision, South Africa's Olympic committee and national track federation said the double amputee can run in his individual event as well as the relay even though he did not meet the country's qualifying criteria in the 400.

The Olympic committee earlier announced that Pistorius, who runs on carbon fiber blades, had been picked only for the relay.

"Since he's going to be there (in London), our decision is he can run both," Olympic committee chief executive Tubby Reddy said. "There's no reason why he can't."

Bulls' Noah unable to play for France

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah will not play for France at the London Olympics because of a left ankle injury. "I'm absolutely not ready," Noah said in Wednesday's edition of L'Equipe newspaper. "Not ready to run, not ready to jump. And even less to play."

College baseball

Baseball America honors 2 UK freshmen

Kentucky center fielder Austin Cousino and two-way standout A.J. Reed were named first-team freshman All-Americans by Baseball America. The duo are the first UK players to earn the honor from the publication.

Reed was also named a first-team freshman All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and a member of the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team. Cousino joined Reed on the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team, and was on the NCBWA's second team.

Cycling

Greipel takes 4th stage of Tour de France

With British rival Mark Cavendish downed by a late crash, Germany's Andre Greipel led a final dash among the remaining top Tour de France sprinters to win the fourth stage into Normandy, France, on Wednesday.

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara avoided the trouble and retained the overall lead for a fifth day after the 133-mile trek alongside the English Channel from Abbeville to Rouen.

The top standings didn't change: The Swiss leads second-place Bradley Wiggins, who hopes to be Britain's first Tour winner, by seven seconds. Defending champion Cadel Evans of Australia was 17 seconds off the pace in seventh.

Horse racing

Mott's Clear Attempt wins at Belmont

Clear Attempt, an 8-1 shot making his stakes debut, held off even-money favorite Compliance Officer by 13/4 lengths for an upset in the $150,000 Poker Stakes on the turf at Belmont Park.Never worse than second at any point, Clear Attempt took charge in mid-stretch for his third win in 11 starts for trainer Bill Mott.

■ Blueskiesnrainbows defeated Nonios by three-quarters of a length to win the $150,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park, giving trainer Bob Baffert his record fifth victory in the Grade II race for 3-year-olds. Baffert leads the meet with nine stakes victories.

NHL

Wild sign both Parise and Suter

The Minnesota Wild landed not one but both of the NHL's top prizes in free agency, signing forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter on Wednesday. Each deal is for 13 years and $98 million, according to Associated Press sources.

Parise, the former New Jersey Devils playmaker, and Suter, who paired with Shea Weber on the Nashville blue line, were regarded the cream of what was a thin free agent crop, and each had spent the past four days poring over numerous offers from several teams before making a decision.

The last word

Golfer Joe Ogilvie was reaching down to pick up a head cover more than two months ago when he experienced a kind of pain he had never felt before. He treated it with massage, though it never went away entirely, and it reached a point where Ogilvie said he had issues with either his back, shoulder or neck three out of seven days. An MRI revealed a herniated disk, meaning he is out for the year. He said could be ready by October if all goes well, but:

"If I was a 15-handicap, I could play golf. It's just really tough to beat Hunter Mahan this way."